Grampa Wiseman - Part 2

In December, I wrote a post about Grampa Wiseman, Ross' paternal grampa. You can read about it here.

Today, I'm happy to add a second part to that post. Yesterday when I got home from work (after a particularly pregnancy-induced hormonal day) I saw a card in our mail pile on the kitchen table. It hadn't been opened yet so I figured it was for me. When I picked it up and saw that it was addressed to me I was excited because I just love receiving notes in the mail. But, this note excited me even more. It also surprised me because it was from Grampa Wiseman!

I love getting cards in the mail, but I especially love this card! Grampa Wiseman is 94 years old, and I know from experience with my own grandparents that it's a bit challenging to hand write things as you age. What a treat it was to receive this hand-written note! I've been sending him notes in the mail since we saw him in September, never expecting or thinking I'd receive one in return. I love this card so much. Thank you, Grampa Wiseman!!

32 Weeks

Today marks 32 weeks of pregnancy and only 8 more weeks to go! I'm so glad I'm not only at 8 weeks along and 32 more to go! Week 8 was a miserable one for me - we took a trip to Indiana and that car ride was just awful! I had nausea the whole way there and back. So glad to be past that!

I had a doctor visit last week and everything checked out okay. I was 31 weeks along then but the baby measured at 32 weeks. I feel like she's really grown over the past couple of weeks. My belly seems to have gotten much bigger just over night. I'm feeling pretty good for the most part. I had a cold last week and still have a lingering cough which is so annoying, but am about 90% over it now. I've always heard that the first and third trimesters are the hardest as far as how you feel and the second trimester is the best where you have the most energy. For me and this pregnancy, I think I'll end up saying the first and second trimester were the hardest and the third was the easiest and most enjoyable. I haven't had much nausea to speak of since week 28 and really haven't been that tired. I feel like I've slowed down a bit when walking and bending over to pick things up or put my shoes and socks on it a bit challenging, but for the most part I feel really good and energized.

My heartburn has calmed down a bit. My doctor told me to take Tums during the day and liquid antacid at night. The liquid antacid is kind of disgusting (it's as if I'm drinking toothpaste) but I've been taking it for one week now and haven't woke up at all during the night with heartburn. Such a welcome change!

Ross and I went to an "epidural interview" yesterday at the hospital. It was a quick session where we watched a video on the epidural process, filled out some paperwork, and met with an anesthesiologist for him to explain the process a little more. That interview is a requirement if I want to have an epidural during labor. Had I not gone to the interview and decided during labor that I wanted it, then I would have had to watch the video and do the paperwork during labor. Right now my plan is to do it naturally without the epidural, but it's nice knowing I have that option if the pain gets too bad. Frankly, for some reason the epidural scares me way more than labor even after learning more about it in the video. So, as my doctor said, we'll just take a "wait and see" approach during labor.

We are going to the doctor every two weeks now and beginning in April will go every week. The countdown really is on now! I have three baby showers coming up: with my girlfriends this Thursday night, with my work on March 14, and with Mom and Stephanie on March 16. I'm looking forward to them and will be glad to have them all done in March. I want to have everything in place and ready to go (as much as possible) by April 1. Then Ross and I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy our last few weeks that we'll ever spend together alone.

Valentine's Day #5

Valentine's Day 2013 was the fifth Valentine's Day Ross and I have shared together. Here's a quick run down of our Valentine's celebrations:

2009:  First Valentine's Day together. Ross gave me a teddy bear, [who is named Steve and seen in several of my pictures on this blog...the bear that is always on our bed holding the treats Ross leaves for me] one dozen roses, took me to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant, took me back to his house for dancing in candlelight in his basement, and also gave me 3 DVDs that I'd wanted. Great first Valentine's Day!

2010:  Engaged Valentine's Day. Ross took me to dinner at Flame, a very nice steakhouse, and we went to see a movie...a chick flick. That weekend we went to KC for our couples wedding shower with the Wiseman's friends, and then had breakfast on Valentine's Day with my family, Aunt Linda and Uncle Dale. You can read more about it here.

2011: First Married Valentine's Day. Kind of low key. We went out to dinner over the weekend to celebrate and then to a movie...a chick flick! Ross gave me roses and a teddy bear and on the 14 we had a nice dinner of fillet mignon and ate on our china plates in our dining room.

2012:  Second Married Valentine's Day. We went out to dinner the weekend before to celebrate and then to a movie...a chick flick! On the 14, Ross brought me flowers at work and I can home to a surprise of a BIG card, little hearts all over our bed saying why Ross loved me, and a Pandora bracelet. Read about it here!

2013: Third Married Valentine's Day and Last One Without Kids. This Valentine's day was kind of low key, but I think it will rank up there with one of my all-time favorites! The weekend before Valentine's Day, Ross took me to the Chateau on the Lake in Branson for a night. We didn't really do much other than eat at the hotel, walk around, get ice cream, and hang out in our room, but it was so much fun! Our room package came with room service and it was really fun waking up to my breakfast being delivered and eating it in bed. We checked out at 11am, went to the outlet mall for a little while, and then went home.

On the 14, I got home to Ross waiting for me with one dozen roses. I told him I was so glad he just gave them to me at home instead of at work...I didn't want to deal with them at work! And he said he thought about it but by the time I walked down to meet him I'd be out of breath and I'd have to walk back and that would take a while...it was just funny! I gave Ross some Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies and he gave me a gift card and The Brady Bunch 2 movie (he gave me the first Brady Bunch movie for our first Valentine's Day and I had been wanting the second one for a while). I took Ross out for our date that night but did not tell him where we were going. I drove a little out of our way, just to mess him up and throw him off track. He was pleasantly surprised when we turned into Popeye's Chicken....a fast food restaurant very similar to Kentucky Fried Chicken! I thought this was so funny and fun! I thought about it over the weekend and knew Ross would like it. He LOVES Popeye's Chicken! He was thrilled and thought it was a great place to eat. After dinner I took us to a coffee shop. We don't really drink coffee, but I thought it would be fun to just hang out at a coffee shop for a while. We got there around 6:45, but just as we were starting out second game of Uno, realized that they closed at 7. I was really bummed about that and think it's odd that they close so early. We left and went home to catch up on our recorded shows. All in all, it was a great Valentine's Day!

The Bump Part 5 . . . Weeks 27-30

More baby bump/Lucy bump pictures for you! I'm now 30 weeks along with only about 10 weeks, give or take a few, left to go! I can tell she's growing and I feel big, however, most people tell me how little I am for 7 1/2 months. And I've had one person so far touch my belly . . . without asking . . . not so cool to do without asking, especially if you don't even know the person very well. :)

27 weeks

28 weeks...love the sticker!

29 weeks

30 weeks! My belly button is slightly sticking out now.

29 Weeks

Today I am 29 weeks into pregnancy and have about 11 weeks left to go! I am SO glad to have 11 weeks left instead of 11 weeks into pregnancy! We had a doctor visit yesterday and everything checked out okay. Lucy's heart rate and growth are right on where they should be for 29 weeks. We will now start going to the doctor every two weeks instead of every four weeks as it has been. At the end of March the visits will be every week, which means the countdown is really on then!

I've been feeling okay for the most part. I still have some nausea here and there, which is probably just my normal for now. I have experienced more heartburn the past few months than I have in my whole entire 34 years of life. It seems like everything, even chocolate, causes heartburn! I've finally caught on to what foods to avoid (but sometimes have them anyway and just deal with it because they taste oh so good!) and to the fact that I need to not eat anything past 7:30 or 8 at night, otherwise I'll be awake at 2am with heartburn. I can only hope that someday this little girl will understand what all I went through for her. :)

Last weekend Ross put together the crib, changing table, and dresser for Lucy's nursery. It is SO MUCH FUN to see all of that furniture in her room! I also got her bedding in and now just need to get a mattress for the crib and changing table to complete it. I have some ideas on how to decorate her room and am excited to get it all going! 

How To Face An Illness

Each Tuesday morning at work we are required to attend an hour-long chapel service. So for the past eight years, every Tuesday morning from 8-9am I’ve been in a chapel service. Sometimes the chapel services are really boring and sometimes they are really good. This past week it happened to be really good. The General Treasurer of the Assemblies of God, Doug Clay, gave a message about facing illness. He felt this was a timely message as the flu bug is so prevalent this year, but I felt it was timely due to what my family has experienced over the past two months.

My mom, Wanda, was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in December 2012. Due to family history and personal feelings about cancer, she opted to have a bilateral mastectomy even though cancer was only found in one breast. She had surgery on January 15, and they removed both breasts along with 5 lymph nodes. We received a report that the removed lymph nodes did NOT contain any cancer, which was such a welcome report and answer to many prayers. I was with my mom the day she found out she needed a biopsy on her breast and possibly the lymph nodes, and as she would probably agree with, she basically had herself buried and her funeral over by the time we left the doctor’s office that day. I have to admit, there were times I kind of thought the same. My limited knowledge of cancer tells me that cancer in the lymph nodes is bad. It can easily spread once in the lymph nodes and is hard to remove. So the lymph node biopsy report of no cancer was such a relief!

She is about two and a half weeks post surgery now and doing pretty good. She’s still sore, doesn’t have her full range of motion and quickness back yet, and tires easily, but overall is doing pretty good. She and my dad will meet with a medical oncologist next Tuesday to discuss what, if any, further treatment is needed. We are praying that no chemotherapy will be needed given the good biopsy report, but there is still a possibility it is needed.

Given all that has been going on in our family from November 27, 2012 up until now, my ears perked up in chapel Tuesday morning when he explained his topic for the day. I jotted down a few notes and wanted to share them here...paraphrased in “Libby language,” if you will. :) There’s so much more to this message than what I have below and it was really good, so I encourage you to watch it by clicking here.

The sermon, titled Facing Illness, is based off of this story from 2 Kings 20:1-7

Hezekiah’s Illness

In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’”

Then Isaiah said, “Prepare a poultice of figs.” They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.

How to face an illness: 

1.  Tell God How You Feel
After Hezekiah heard he was going to die, he turned his face to God and prayed. He didn’t turn to Isaiah. He didn’t turn to his friends. He didn’t turn to his family. He didn’t turn to a support group. He didn’t turn to anything else but God. This is good advice for ANY circumstance in your life. Tell God how you feel because he already knows it and it won’t be offended by you telling him how you feel. God is the main source to your help and he wants to help. It might be hard, but don’t focus more on your illness than on God. It’s okay to think about your illness, but don’t take your eyes off God.

2.  Seek Medical Treatment
Hezekiah was told by God to prepare a poultice of figs which would serve as a healing for him. The healing wasn’t instant and sometimes healing doesn’t come here on earth, but God asked him to seek something out for healing. God told him to get help, to get treatment for his illness. Just because you take medicine or see several specialists for your illness does not mean you lack faith. But, remember that medicine should not take the place of prayer. You need both – medicine and prayer.

3.  Celebrate the Life God Does Give You
After Hezekiah was healed God told him he had 15 years left to live. That would be hard to hear the exact amount of time you had left to live, but God doesn't want us to focus on that. He wants us to focus on life now and life it to the fullest now. Life is a gift from God and each day should be treated as such and celebrated. Don’t worry about how much longer you have to live here on earth, because in reality, anyone who is completely healthy could be gone at any minute due to a car accident or some unexpected tragedy. Cherish each day. Live out your faith in good and bad times. Remember, your life is not your own and God’s grace is sufficient for you.

4.  Learn How to Find Ways to Grow Through Your Suffering
Use this time to grow closer to Christ, to your family, to others facing what you are facing. Suffering is temporary so keep it in perspective. It’s part of the package no matter when it happens. Remember, some struggles are God’s way of freeing us from the “stuff” in our lives.


How to Treat Others Who Are Sick  
If you’re like me, you sometimes don’t know what to say to someone who has been diagnosed with cancer or has a terminal illness. I’m afraid to talk about it because what if the other person doesn’t want to or it upsets them, and then what do you say? Saying “I’m sorry” seems too trite sometimes. Here are some tips on how to handle a situation like this:

1.  Look at the Person, Not the Sickness
Your friend or family member is still the same person, just has a different circumstance now. Don’t treat them differently or look at them funny. Just treat them like you normally would.

2.  Don’t Play Doctor or God
Don’t act like you know everything about their situation, even if you’ve experienced the same kind of illness they have. Everybody is different and no single person experiences the same exact situation when dealing with an illness. Keep your medical opinions to yourself! And don’t go all scriptural and Christianese on them, either. It’s okay to share a Bible verse but don’t act like you are holier than they are.

3.  Offer Emotional Support
Sometimes all that’s needed is a listening ear or a hug.